Westhill beats Harding to reach .500

Reid L. Walmark

Updated 10:25 pm, Saturday, November 16, 2013

BRIDGEPORT -- Westhill's defense swarmed Harding for nearly the entire afternoon Saturday at Harding-Hedges Field, and produced one of the Vikings three touchdowns to boot in the Vikings' 20-6 victory over the Presidents.

Senior captain Evan Skoparantzos caught two touchdown passes from quarterback Ryan Coppola to open a two-score lead midway through the second quarter before junior linebacker Joe Schlessinger's 13-yard interception return for a touchdown gave the Vikings a 20-0 cushion after Ricardo Nerja's point after. D.J. Smith ended Westhill's bid for a shutout with a 1-yard touchdown run for the Presidents 1:49 before halftime.

Westhill, which has won three of its last four games, improved to 5-5 on the season and can finish above .500 by beating rival Stamford Thanksgiving morning.

Harding, still without head coach Jack Cochran who is sidelines with a medical condition, dropped to 3-7 overall and 2-7 in the FCIAC. The Presidents have lost seven of their last eight games after beginning the season with a pair of victories.

"They had one or two big plays, and that was the only difference in the game," Harding's interim head coach Eddie Santiago said. "They (Vikings) played tough. We've got to do some work on our offensive line. We did not play cohesively meshed today. But we did shut them out in the second half."

Skoparantzos scored on a 3-yard passing play with 1:54 left in the first quarter. The Vikings' next two scores were the big plays Santiago singled out. Skoparantzos caught a 28-yard pass from Coppola midway through the second quarter, then Schlessinger picked off Harding quarterback T.J. Killings at the 15-yard line and ran it in for the Pick-6.

The Presidents answered on their next possession when they got the ball at the Vikings' 38 on a botched fake punt play by Westhill. Smith had runs of 20, 9 and 11 yards -- along with a rush for a loss -- setting up his TD run. Harding's offense could not get untracked after that, following one more possession deep in Vikings' territory before halftime.

"The defense stepped it up today," Westhill coach Frank Marcucio said. "We were very good defensively. We shut them down. That might have been the best defense we've played all year. We played very good football today. We moved the ball."

One of the Vikings' problems, he said, was him. He apologized to his players at halftime for his call for a fake punt that Harding's defense reacted to and handled well. "That was on me," Marcucio said. "It was a dumb call."

Coppola finished 10 of 17 for 133 yards passing and two interceptions. "Ryan looks really good sometimes, then at other times he makes some bad decisions," Marcucio said. The interceptions were not good plays, but his 10 completions, with two to Skoparantzos for scores, showed how he can shine when given protection.

Coppola benefitted from the Vikings' strong blocking up front. "The line is doing a little bit better," Marcucio said.

T.J. Killings was 3 of 14 passing for Harding. Matt Ainbinder was the other Viking to come up with an interception. Jeffrey Rogers and Christian Hopkins had interceptions for Harding.